AS mise-en-scene reflection

Thinking back to the project that I did for my AS coursework I realised that I had barely included or focused on any aspect of mise-en-scene as my main focus had been on ensuring that the script and cinematography etc were of a high standard. I now realise that, had I spent a bit more time thinking about and constructing the mise-en-scene for my project it is likely that it would have resulted in a higher grade as it would have showed that I was aware of every aspect that goes into making a film (or an opening sequence for a film in my case). With this in mind I filled out a reflection sheet to see what I could have done better which will then help me to ensure that I have a sharper focus on it for my A2 project which will hopefully ensure that the finished product will look much more professional and more reflective of the hard work that I will put into it. A main thing which I identified that I need to work on is the use of props, perhaps making more of an effort to ensure that I include some props where appropriate whether they're home made or bought etc.

Make up

I made this make-up chart as a part of a class activity where we were encouraged to look deeper into the different aspects of mise-en-scene. The genre of film that my group was assigned to create the mise-en-scene for was action.

I feel like this make-up would be particularly effective for a film involving a war conflict as the traditional army paint can be easily linked to this theme. The injuries on the face also closely link to the idea of conflict and action although they are not strictly confined to the war theme and can be used in almost every kind of action film (as action films often involve combat of some kind which will result in injuries such as the one shown).

Trailer remake evaluation

My trailer remake

Although I did not have the time or resources available to create my own titles, I feel like my trailer is a success as I have been able to able to accurately recreate the shots included in the trailer and the costumes, mise-en-scene and make up are fairly true to the trailer.

Make-up for trailer remake

Costume for trailer remake

Props for trailer remake

Pretty much the only prop that will be required for me to film my trailer remake is the cow toy that the minion is playing with and laughing. I'm not sure where i will be able to find an exact replica of this toy but there may be something such as an app that i will be able to use so that the sound that will be in the trailer will at least be true to the original trailer. With this there is the possibility to maybe use a cow print phone case which will mean that the phone will look more like the prop that it is supposed to be imitating. This will be quick and easy to do as apps are easy to find and come by and will be extremely authentic.

Casting for trailer remake

Blog evaluation

We were asked to spend 5-10 minutes evaluating another student's blog, here is Jonathon's evaluation of my blog:

Remaking trailer

I have chose to remake the teaser trailer for Despicable Me as it is a film that I enjoy and think that it would be an interesting trailer to remake.

This is the trailer:

Although I obviously will not be able to make an exact copy of this trailer I am hoping to be able to recreate the shots, acting and comedy theme of this trailer.

My poster

Here is the poster that I made for an imaginary horror film called 'Closure':

Overall, I feel that (although it is very amateur) the poster has fitted into many of the conventions of horror film posters. It has an image which is linked to the film's storyline which is central to the poster and takes up a large amount of space, a dark background and the film title in the bottom third of the photo. Although it fits into many of the conventions of a horror film poster I do not feel like it is a great success as it does not look particularly attention catching, its only merit being that it is clearly a poster designed to advertise a horror film.

Horror film posters

I am making a poster for a horror film but before I did this I chose to closely examine the conventions of existing horror film posters to ensure that my posters fits into these conventions (or perhaps give me scope to create a slightly unconventional poster).

By looking closely at these posters I have come to these conclusions:

Examples of posters from different genres

DRAMA

Briefly looking at the posters for drama films it appears that the main emphasis on these posters is based entirely on the main characters to the film (such as the two lovers etc.). There is very little focus on any of the text apart from the title and tagline suggesting that these are the most important things to the potential audience that the film makers are trying to reach. Overall, the colours used in the posters can vary quite drastically but tend to be fairly neutral and soft colours.

COMEDY

Comedy posters also focus mainly on portraying the main characters of the film with less focus on the text. The characters are sometime shown in unusual or comical poses or situations, however, they are also sometimes just shown face on. The overall colours of comedy posters tend to be quite vibrant as this helps to convey the comedy aspect of the film and is more suitable than darker colours.

HORROR

Unlike comedy and drama, all but a few horror posters do not even show the main character to the story which places more of an emphasis on the storyline. This is done by the use of images which can also sometimes appear to be quite cryptic which could help entice the reader. Overall, the colours used in horror posters are dark and dull, however, there is also a large use of red as this is a colour often assosciated with both danger and blood (things which are present in most horror films).

Film posters

CONVENTIONAL

In class we were asked to think of what we believed was meant by the word conventional. It proved to be far harder than we expected as we could not find a specific way to define it but after listening to each other's ideas and pooling them together we came to a decision that being conventional means to stick to the norm or standard way in which things are done.

We were then asked to look at and apply this to film posters to determine what the conventions of a film poster was and whether it varied from genre to genre in order to give us help in making our own poster for a specific genre.